Seed Savers

Not a bad idea drew, I put a pile of pits in the ground from my peach tree also. I have read that some early peaches ( which is what I have) are more difficult to get to sprout. I have also been planting all of my apple and pear cores this fall around my compost pile.

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I hope to obtain some early peaches. I don’t have any. Mine are mid to late. I should try the indoor method too as I see lot’s of sprouting seeds in this thread!

I also planted some cherry seeds. I bought some great dark cherries this year from the Amish. I know they don’t come true to seed, just hoping the are close. i remember a user on garden web planted a dark sweet and the seedling produced a very cool looking spotted cherry. So one never knows! I really need a dark cherry, but they often die here, so i do not want to sink any more money into them., I’ll grow them from seed. I have White Gold growing as a pollinator. The seeds I planted too are from Michigan grown trees, so should grow here fine.

Everybody please keep us updated on progress of seedlings.

It’s virtually impossible to germinate seeds of early peaches, the problem lies in the fact that these seeds are not optimal developed. only in laboratory with certain techniques it is possible.

I really like the peach I have. The problem that I have is I bought it from a nursery and I think it was mislabeled. It was supposed to be a stark delicious peach but it is a cling stone and delicious is supposed to be a free stone. It ripens here in zone 6 sw Missouri in June.

Alcedo, when your seeds have started to sprout like the ones in my photo, do you plant them in damp potting soil at room temperature? You posted some photos of seeds that you let sprout more than mine have. Should I wait to plant them for a few more days.

Just took my seeds out…pretty much all the stonefruit have started growing. A little early, but i potted them up. Might be able to put them outside for a while this weekend if temps get to 50F.

Do you know what date you put them in the refrigerator? I put mine in on sept 7 and they are just bearly sprouting.

August 'ish… somewhere in there. Just watch them… It gets annoying if they really start to root out. The roots will poke right through paper towel and they are very fragile so you have to be gentle or you’ll break the little root hairs off or the whole root. I potted mine up in 18 pot trays… I’ll move them to 1 gallon pots in 8 weeks or when i see roots really start to poke out the bottom.

A little bottom heat helps too when you pot them up…or a warm room. I have heating mats i use but just be careful to make sure they have enough moisture because those mats will cook the water right out of the soil.

Thanks for the tips , really appreciate it.

update…i had a few rot out on me…happens every time. Still pretty solid take on most seeds. Keeping them going through winter will require grow lights (T8/32 watt fixtures)… I’ll repot into gallon containers in a few weeks.

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Very nice, I have twenty potted up , I hope they look like yours soon.

Looks like the peaches are just starting to pop.

What peach is it or aren’t you sure?

I have a halls hardy almond , it sprouted out one limb below the graft that makes small green peaches.

I plan to plant them out in the spring , let them grow one summer and then graft a good peach onto them.

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Derby, pay close attention to those planted in the peat pots. They dry out so stinking fast in the house, especially in the winter. For me, they always seemed to want to mold badly if I attempted to cover them. I really had to stay on top of them.

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warm…do you have any trouble with damping off? I’ve grown peach seedlings long ago, but I cannot remember much about them. Apple seedlings have a terrible habit of wanting to damp off. Captan works well for preventing the problem with apples and I figure it would also work well with peaches, if in fact, they turn out to be as problematic.

Thanks for the tip, i had these just covered and as you said they tried to mold. I was afraid the seeds were going to rot so I put some bottom heat under them and it dried the mold up. They do dry out fast. It was really just a trial run. I am going to plant about forty in plastic cells. I wanted to make sure they were ready to grow before I put the whole bunch in dirt.

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/franktank232/media/pluots1.jpg.html

Not much this year. I’m using heat mat and grow lights and its really beating back any mold/fungus growth it would seem. Also using a good potting mix. Once they really take off it seems like those disease issues disappear and its just keeping them moist and given enough light. At some point i’ll probably give them some plant food since the mix i’m using has none in it.

I hear you on drying them out. Where it can be really bad is late winter if you put them in a greenhouse/tunnel outside…even in late Feb the temps inside can get 90F and they’ll need constant watering. I’ve killed a few from lack of water…i’ve also fried a bunch of them from the temps getting into the 100Fs (March/April).

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A few things you could try. Add very fine compost. Unlike what is said in some GW forums, compost has been shown to stop root rot. Add perlite, DE, or turface to the surfaces. Spores splash on plant from the soil. Cover all soil! Add 1-2 tbsp of hydrogen peroxide when watering.
I grow seedlings every year, not fruit tree but vegetable and this is what we do to solve the problem. I use a seed starter mix with DE mixed in, and the soil is sterile so I really never have problems. By itself seed starter mix have too much peat so I add diatomaceous earth, but perlite or turface will work too. I use Optisorb or Napa floor dry DE.

Using captan seems like overkill, it is not neded, but i guess whatever works. Anyway thought I would list some alternatives.

On drying out, you know they sell watering mats that water from the bottom. the mat holds the water. it makes it hard to over or underwater. I have one. I don’t usually use it but when gone a few days it works really well!
It’s tough to figure out when to water with seedlings, and yes room conditions etc. So these mats are fantastic tools.

All my fruit tree seedlings are in fabric pots outside right now. No worries till spring of them sprouting. i have to deal with herbs and vegetable seedlings, and fig cuttings. I’m germinating brambles inside too, so my plate is way full! I’ll let mother nature handle the fruit trees. I don’t have time to baby them all winter. I have figs and herbs and pepper plants to try and keep alive all winter.

I think one issue i will have is way too many trees…and not knowing what was a FK seedling and what is a Geo Pride/etc… I really just tossed them together (pluots)…